8 String Guitar Scales and Arpeggios
The 8-string guitar is one of the most harmonically rich instruments available to a guitarist — and also one of the most overwhelming to approach systematically. Two extra strings means a significantly wider fretboard, more tonal possibilities, and a lot more patterns to learn if you go about it the conventional way.
8 String Guitar Scales and Arpeggios cuts through that by doing what most 8-string resources don’t: reducing the entire system to just three scale patterns that cover the whole neck in standard tuning (F#, B, E, A, D, G, B, E). Same approach as the 7 String Guitar Method — minimum patterns, maximum coverage, straight to the music.
What’s in the book
- 16 scale types covering the major scale and its modes, pentatonic scales and a selection of exotic scales — all mapped across the full 8-string neck
- 5 arpeggio types including the most common seventh arpeggios — derived directly from the same three scale patterns so the hard work is already done by the time you get there
- Everything in standard 8-string tuning, laid out in clear fretboard diagrams with movable patterns you can transpose to any key
- A technical foundation that develops your fretboard fluency across all eight strings while keeping the learning overhead to a minimum
The three-pattern approach
Most scale systems for extended range guitars hand you five, seven or more patterns per scale and leave you to figure out how they connect. This book reduces that to three — the minimum needed to cover the entire neck — so you’re spending less time memorising shapes and more time actually playing.
Also in this series
Making the transition from 6 to 7 strings? 7 String Guitar Method applies the same systematic approach with a full method for getting the most out of the 7-string fretboard.
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